


A Little Extra Cruel

by Duck_Life



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Guys Win, Cartoon Physics, Curses, Gen, Love Potion/Spell, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-07 19:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: "When the villains finally do invade Auradon, and begin to loot and kick everyone out of their castles and imprison their leaders and destroy all that is good and beautiful, Ben still being in love with me just seems a little extra... cruel."Maleficent makes sure that's exactly how it goes. Guilt-ridden and horrified, Mal tries to find a way to overthrow her mother, break the spell on Ben, and keep her friends safe.





	1. Anything Your Heart Desires

Evie gave them all mantras a few days ago, written out in her curly handwriting on fresh pieces of parchment. She seemed convinced that saying a spell, even if it isn’t magic, can help them all get through this awful tangled  _ mess _ that is life now. 

Mal stares at herself in the mirror, and then back down at the scrap of parchment in her hand. “I’m a good person,” she says, voice sounding too thin to her own ears. “And I can do good.” These days it feels like she has spiders crawling up her back all the time, and snakes clumping in her throat, choking her. These days it feels like there’s nothing at all in the whole world that she can be but a half-fairy, half-dragon, all-evil sorceress. These days it feels like there’s no line between herself and the wicked, vicious daughter her mother always envisioned. “I’ll do everything I can,” she says, choking back a sob. “And everything I should.” 

_ “ _ _ Falling in love is weak... And ridiculous. It's not what you want.” Maleficent smiles sickly sweet and dances around the throne room, thrilled at her own success. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men stand frozen like statues, no more than decorations in their own graveyard.  _

_ “You don’t know what I want!” Mal yells, trying not to let her eyes wander to Ben, standing motionless, vulnerable. “Mom, have you ever once asked me what I want? I’m not you!” _

“I’m a good person,” Mal repeats, her voice shaking. 

_ “Oh, obviously. I've had years and years and years and... Years of practice being evil,” Maleficent assures her, almost trying to sound sympathetic. “You'll get there.” _

_ “No, I will not,” Mal swears, finally making her stance, making her choice, trying not to shake with terror as she does. “And I really wish that you had never gotten there yourself. Love is not weak or ridiculous.” She loves Evie and Carlos and Jay. She loves Ben, maybe, sort of. She even loves her mother, as painful as that is. “It's actually really amazing.” _

“And I can do good.” Mal scrubs a tear away from her eye. 

_ “There is only one good thing about love,” Maleficent says, condescending and fearsome. “It’s really the absolute easiest way to control someone. Second only to fear. Watch this.” Her eyes glow green and she waves her hand, and suddenly Ben’s in motion once again, stumbling forward as he awakens.  _

_ “Ben!” Mal shrieks, rushing toward him. _

_ He looks up at her, dazed but not unhappy. “Mal,” he says, and it’s all wrong, his eyes look oddly unfocused; he doesn’t even seem worried anymore. “Wow, did I tell you already how stunning you look tonight? That dress… and your hair… you’re so beautiful.” _

“I’ll do everything I can...” It’s almost time to leave, almost time for her mother’s daily address to the people of Auradon-- her bewitched, obedient subjects. 

_ “Ben, snap out of it,” Mal pleads, gripping his jacket lapels. “Please, come on, I know this isn’t real.” _

_ “Of course it is,” he says sweetly. Behind him, Maleficent “wakes up” the Fairy Godmother, Queen Belle and King Adam, each of them effortlessly falling under her spell. “Mal, I love you. That’s the most real emotion I’ve ever felt.” _

_ “No,” Mal says, desperate. “It’s just the love spell all over again, only stronger, only worse… Ben, we can’t let her do this.”  _

_ The Fairy Godmother shakes her head like she’s clearing cobwebs. “Goodness, I must’ve lost my train of thought,” she titters to herself. “On with the coronation, then!” _

_ Maleficent smiles showing all her teeth as the Fairy Godmother takes the crown from Ben and hands it to their new queen, who hangs it around one horn facetiously. “Citizens of Auradon,” the Fairy Godmother says, clapping her hands together, “please welcome our new queen… Maleficent.”  _

Mal curls her hands into fists, feeling the sting as the nails bite into her palms. She needs to cut those, really. She needs to do a lot of things. She has a lot of work to do. 

“And everything I should.” 


	2. The Miserable, the Lonely and Depressed

“Hey, princess.” Ben kisses her when she reaches the dais. His lips are cold. “I was afraid you were going to be late.” His face looks so peaceful, so untroubled. The complete opposite of her and her friends, the only four people left in the kingdom not infected with Maleficent’s magic (besides the Evil Fairy herself). 

“I wish I was late,” Mal says, trying to tug away from him when he entangles their fingers together. This is all just wrong, wrong, wrong. Yes, of course, she  _ wants _ the comfort and familiarity of Ben at her side, but this isn’t him. This is some mindless puppet who looks and sounds like Ben, but it’s not him, not really. “I wish I hadn’t come.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he says, giving her a sunny smile that sends chills down her spine. “You should be excited! I heard the queen is unveiling a whole new form of entertainment. It’ll make tourney jousting a thing of the past.” 

Mal chokes on air. “But… but you  _ love _ tourney jousting,” she flounders. 

Ben blinks, confused. “No, I love  _ you _ .” 

When Maleficent arrives with a flourish and a burst of green flames, the crowd quiets down-- out of respect, not fear. No one fears their beloved leader. “Hello, hello!” she says, gleefully waving to her many adorers. “Look at my daughter, doesn’t she look lovely this morning?” 

Mal wishes she could disappear and sink into the ground. 

Maleficent goes on the explain how she’s fostering unity between Auradon and the Isle (by bringing in the villains and letting them take over everything), how in her two-week reign not one complaint has been made (they can’t complain… the people  _ literally cannot complain _ ), how she’s already begun renovating the castle (specifically making the dungeon larger and more uncomfortable). 

And then she sweeps back dramatically, and Mal knows that expression. Her mother’s about the reveal something big. “Come out, come out, my dear Adam!”

Ben’s father walks outside and stands beside her on the dais, looking just as out-of-it as everyone else in the kingdom. Maleficent beams and holds up her hands. “ _ Heed me, spirits of the wind in the east; Where man once stood, let us see beast. _ ”

Green sparks fly from her fingertips and wrap around the former king, enveloping him for a full minute before they disperse, revealing the terrifying, misshapen form of the monster he was when Ben’s mother first met him. 

A scream catches in Mal’s throat; she clamps down on her own fear and turns to Ben, because there’s no way he’s taking this well. 

Ben looks completely fine, bored even. He watches his father devolve and doesn’t even care. 

“Now!” Maleficent announces. The oohs and ahhs of the crowd die down. “This gruesome specimen here will find a new home in the tourney arena, where anyone who  _ dares  _ can go up against him. Talk to Ms. de Vil about signups; bets can be placed with Jafar.”

Mal can already see some of the more athletic boys from school clamoring to sign up for their chance against the ferocious Beast. Standing in the middle of them, Jay looks faintly ill. 

“This is all so exciting,” Ben whispers in her ear, gleeful, oblivious. “I wonder if I’d be able to take that brute down.”

* * *

 

Mal tries making an anti-love potion at one point. She gives it to Ben (he trusts her so much; he’ll eat whatever she puts in front of him). He devours the small tartlet in seconds, and then stands blinking at her, nothing really changing about the way he stands or the blankness in his eyes. 

“You feel okay?” she asks him, feeling anxiety like snakes twisting in her stomach.

Ben smiles and his vacant stare remains. “I always feel okay when I’m with you, Mal.” When Mal storms away in frustration, she almost walks right into her mother. 

“What’s the matter, Mal?” Maleficent asks, putting one sharpened nail beneath Mal’s chin to tilt her gaze upward. “Trouble in paradise?” 

“It should’ve worked,” she whispered, rage seeping into her words as she looks up at her mother. “I followed the recipe exactly.” 

“I told you,” Maleficent sneers. “I’m more powerful than you’ll ever be. Your little baked goods are no match for my raw power. I didn’t just put a  _ spell _ on little Benny, I cursed him. Cursed him to love you, and really, can you imagine a more awful fate?” She laughs. “Don’t get torn up about it, dearie. Nothing can beat true love.” 

She walks away, her cloak swishing behind her, and Mal wants to yell and scream and beat her fists against the wall.  _ It’s not true love _ , she wants to shout.  _ It’s just a big trick _ , she wants to shout.  _ No one has ever, ever really loved me. _

Mal slumps against the flagstone wall behind her. “ I’m a good person,” she says, pressing her fingers against her eyes and just trying to breathe. “And I can do good. I’ll do everything I can, and everything I should.”

* * *

 

The Beast fights. He roars like a lion and rages like a bull, ripping across the field savagely to attack every opponent who gets too close. His wife and son watch on with mild interest, like everything’s all just fine.

* * *

 

Mal meets with her friends in abandoned broom closets in the middle of the night, convinced that if anyone finds out they’re not all on-board the evil train, they’ll be separated or spelled, or something even worse. 

“Pop’s raking in the gold,” Jay says, tilting back on top of an overturned mop bucket. “Everyone wants to place a bet on the ‘amazing’ Beast.” 

“My mom wants all the castle’s animals turned into stoles and jackets,” Carlos says lowly, fiddling with a torn-off bit of sponge. “And I think she’s including the Beast in that.”

“My mother’s going to force me to marry Chad,” Evie announces, looking down at her fingernails. Normally so vibrant, she looks muted now, dull. Like someone (her mother) doused her fire. “What are we going to do?”

“Everyone’s been saying the mantra, right?” Mal checks. Evie shoots her an appreciative look. “I know it’s not, like, an  _ actual _ plan but until we have one of those--”

“I have an actual plan,” Carlos says suddenly. The squad’s all ears. “We steal the wand.”

Jay groans. “That’s what got us in this mess.”

“And that’s what’s going to get us out of it!” Carlos looks desperate. His mother’s been hard at work getting him to revisit his fear of dogs, and he’s been keeping Dude in the woods secretly. “We need that wand. We can reverse all of Maleficent’s magic.”

“Guys,” Evie says, speaking up. Mal’s glad she can be the practical, dream-crushing one. It gives her a reprieve. “We couldn’t even get that wand away when the  _ good guys _ had it. What are we supposed to do now? Mal’s mom has that thing under lock and key.” 

It’s true, and they all know it. Jay sighs and leans back on his bucket. Mal just buries her face in her hands, wishing for once that she could just be completely fae, wishing she could just sprout wings and fly away without a care in the world.

* * *

 

Mal stares down at the kingdom from one of the tallest towers in the castle, imagining the bushes below twining up to her and encasing her in their brambles, dropping her into an enchanted nap never to wake up. It’d be a refreshing change.

She feels the chill in the air when her mother walks in, her footfalls echoing on the dusty floor. “Admiring all our hard work?” Maleficent asks, pride perfuming her words. She puts a bony hand on Mal’s shoulder. “Drink it in. This is what winning feels like.” 


	3. Any Happy Little Thought

Ben’s holding her hand on the grounds one day, the sun is bright, it’s all wrong. He’s smiling. “Your hair is so soft,” he comments, catching a lock of it between two fingers. “I could just play with it all day.” 

Mal bites her lip, reminds herself he’s not himself. “Too bad we actually have  _ things _ to do,” she jokes, leaning away from him. 

“I can’t think of anything more important than you.” He’s so earnest and honest and it’s so, so unfair. To Ben. To  _ her _ . It’s not fair that she gets someone telling her everything she’s ever wanted to hear, and she  _ knows _ it’s all magic. Dark magic, at that. 

“You don’t even like me!” Mal splutters suddenly, fed up with all of it. “Ben, you don’t even  _ like _ me.”

He looks confused. “How can you say that? I love you, Mal.” 

“I know.” She reaches up to cup his face in her hand, like she can leech all the magic out of him and let him be free. “I know you do, and I’m so, so sorry. I’m going to fix this, somehow, I  _ swear _ . But that’s what’s so messed up, isn’t it? You have to love me. But you don’t even like me.” 

“Mal, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ben laughs. “You think I don’t like you? I do! I just said I like your hair. I like your beautiful eyes.”

“That stuff isn’t even real,” she says quietly. “What if… what if I was a beast like your dad? Or what if I was a big scary dragon? Would you still like me then?” 

Ben blinks, looking like his brain just short-circuited. “But you’re  _ not _ a beast or a dragon.” 

“Yeah,” she sighs, and even though she’s still holding his hand it feels like he’s a million miles away. “I know. I’m worse.”

* * *

 

They meet in a broom closet again, and Mal tries to ignore how rattled Carlos is starting to look, like he hasn’t been sleeping. They’re all looking a little worse for wear. 

“We could run away,” Evie suggests. “We could just… we could all just leave.”

“What good would that do?” Mal says.

Jay shrugs. “It’d make  _ me _ feel better.” 

“C’mon, there’s gotta be  _ something _ we can do,” Mal says desperately, because in the short time she had away from her mother, she learned to love her little piece of life. She wants it back. “Good always beats bad, right? I mean, that’s why we all grew up in the middle of nowhere, because the good guys always win. This can’t be any different.” 

Evie sighs. “But there  _ isn’t _ anything we can do,” she points out. “Your mom has the wand, Mal.”

Mal folds her hand in front of her, thinking. “Alright, so what’s even more powerful than the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand?” 

“Midnight,” says Jay.

“True love’s kiss,” says Evie.

“A bigger, more magical wand,” says Carlos.

And Mal zeroes in on that. “A bigger, more magical wand,” she repeats softly.

Carlos looks self-conscious. “Hey, we’re just spitballing, you don’t need to make fun of me.”

“No, no, no, I think… Carlos, I think that’s it,” she breathes, hands fluttering as she thinks. “We can… we  _ have to _ … get to a wand that can beat the Fairy Godmother’s wand.” And she knows just which wand they need.

* * *

 

It’s evening, and the Beast is at it again, a gladiatorial lion in his own home. Ben watches with a smile, as if that’s not his father, as if everything good and beautiful isn’t falling apart around him. Mal pushes her sad thoughts aside and squeezes his hand, trying to get his attention. “Hey,” she whispers, leaning close to Ben’s ear. “How much do you know about sorcerers?”

“That… they’re flashy,” he says with a charming grin. “And cool.”

“Right,” she says. “Specifically, um, Yen Sid. You know Yen Sid?”

“The scientist?” Ben says, still watching the battle in front of him with mild interest. “Yeah, my father actually sent him over to the Isle years ago to teach… ah, you, Mal. You and all the other villain kids I mean.”

“Oh, right,” she says, backtracking her own history. She barely paid attention to the teachers back home. “But before that, he was this powerful sorcerer, right?”

“Yep,” Ben says pleasantly. “One of the most powerful. Well, him and his apprentice.”

Mal freezes, still clutching Ben’s hand. “Who was his apprentice?” 

Ben gives her a funny look. “Wait, you don’t know?” he says. “Yen Sid’s apprentice? It was Mickey Mouse.” 

Evie’s going to be completely infuriating when she finds out. When they were kids, they heard stories about Mickey Mouse, but Mal knew-- or thought she knew-- that they were all made-up, that there was no such person as Mickey Mouse. Evie always insisted he was real, and now… well, now she’s going to be completely infuriating.

“So Mickey Mouse,” Mal presses. “He’d have Yen Sid’s wand, yeah?”

Ben shakes his head. “Yen Sid never used a wand.” Well. That’s it, then, the end of the road. She was so sure that the old sorcerer  _ did _ have a wand, and she was so sure it could save them all… She pinned all her hope on something she remembered wrong. There’s no magic wand to save them, no fix. But then Ben says, “No, he used a hat.”


	4. When You Wish Upon A Star

The broom cupboard feels crowded that night, even though it’s still just the four of them. They’re all buzzing with excitement. “Mickey Mouse lives in Toontown now,” Evie explains to the others. “It’s kind of a retirement home… well, it’s kind of a retirement pocket dimension… for people who can’t maintain a three-dimensional existence anymore.” 

Jay raises his hand like they’re in class. “Uh,  _ what _ ?”

“The important thing is, we need to go to Toontown if we’re going to get Yen Sid’s hat,” Mal says. “But we need to be all in on this.” 

Carlos and Jay look at each other and then at the girls. Evie looks at Mal and nods. “How do we even get to this… pocket lint place or whatever?” Carlos asks. 

Mal cracks her knuckles and holds out her hands. Her eyes flare green. “ _ Give me a black hole that could drag the moon down, give me a pathway to take us to Toontown _ .” Her eyes flash, and then suddenly between her hands she holds an amorphous black circle, warping slightly in the dim light. “Okay,” she says, looking out of breath. “Everyone ready?”

“I’m a good person,” Evie says quietly. 

“And I can do good,” Jay adds.

“I’ll do everything I can,” says Carlos.

Mal drops the black circle on the floor. “And everything I should.” The four of them jump into the hole and vanish.

* * *

 

As soon as their feet hit the ground, something feels… weird. Different. Mal looks down at herself and feels disoriented. Everything about her looks distorted, wrongly proportioned. “What the…?” Jay mumbles from behind her (she thinks he’s behind her; depth and direction are all topsy-turvy). 

“We’re toons,” Evie says, stretching out her arms and legs and adjusting to the new form.

“Neat,” Carlos says.

“Let’s go,” Mal says, marching off toward the little village of houses with cheerfully smoking chimneys. They stumble down a grassy hill, getting the hang of moving through two-dimensional space. It feels weird, like walking in a dream. 

They reach the bottom of the hill and cluster onto the dirt path, Carlos accidentally bumping into Jay. Mal rolls her eyes and points again at the little village, and they keep walking.

As they draw closer to the houses, they start to see sparkles dotting the ground, a trail of glitter tracing along the edge of the path. 

“Mal, you’re leaking pixie dust,” Jay says, pointing. 

She scowls at him. “That’s not from me.”

“Then who’s it from?” Carlos asks.

Evie skids to a stop, holding an arm out to stop her friends from advancing. “Her,” she says, pointing a few yards away.

Beside the path stands a statuesque, glimmering woman in a long blue dress, golden candyfloss hair flowing around her shoulders. Even from the distance, they can see her gossamer wings fluttering slightly behind her. 

Mal stares at the woman. “I think that’s the Blue Fairy.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, she’s a fairy and she’s blue,” Mal says, rolling her eyes again. “Come on, guys, use your deductive reasoning.” Fearless, Mal strides toward the Blue Fairy. “Hello? Excuse me? Miss Fairy?”

“Hm?” The Blue Fairy turns around to look at Mal. The other three VKs shrink back but Mal keeps advancing. “Do I know you?”

“Hopefully not,” Mal deadpans. “My friends and I, we’re trying to find--”

“Oh, I do know you!” she exclaims, clapping her hands together. Her voice sounds like tinkling bells, her eyes like twinkling starlight. “Mal of the Isle, right? I’ve heard your wishes. And Evie, child.” She holds a hand out to Evie, who tries unsuccessfully to hide behind Carlos. “I’m so sorry for everything that’s happened. Know that I hear you, and I want to help if I can.”

Mal shakes her head like she’s trying to get water out of her ears. “What do you mean, you can hear us? What wishes?”

The Blue Fairy looks upward, where the stars are just beginning to pop out over Toontown. “Every time someone makes a wish, I hear it. And I do what I can to make it come true, if it’s worthy, if it’s good.”

Carlos leans forward, an intent look on his face. “So you know… who we are? And that we’re not actually, you know, evil?”

“Oh, of course I do, dear,” she says kindly, nodding at him. “So many things are outside my power, but when I can do something, I try. I’ve been trying to use my magic to keep your dog safe, as a matter of fact.”

“Wait, really?”

“Mm-hmm,” she says. 

“I don’t get it,” Evie says, squinting at the fairy. With their matching hair and sparkling eyes, they could be sisters. “Why would you help us? We don’t even know you.” 

The Blue Fairy looks at her, not condescending, just curious. “Doing good… and  _ being  _ good… it’s not about what everyone else can see. Most of the world will never know who I am, but I still try to grant their wishes.”

“Huh,” Jay says. 

“Well,” Mal says, looking uncomfortable as she scuffs the toe of her boot into the dirt. “I  _ wish _ you would tell us where Mickey Mouse is.”

She smiles. “Just through there,” she says, pointing to the entrance to the village. “And… I wish you all good luck. Truly.” She watches as they all shuffle past her and finally walk into Mickey Mouse’s village. 

It’s quiet enough, but not unnervingly so. Cartoon birds chatter in the trees. An animated broom hums as it sweeps past them, carrying a bucket of water. Through one window, Mal spots Clarabelle Cow reading the Toontown Times. 

“Anyone else feeling trippy?” Jay whispers. Carlos raises his hand. 

“Look.” Evie points to a red and yellow house with mouse ears over the doorway. “That’s gotta be it.” 

Mal glances at each of her friends. “We’re trespassing,” she says slowly. “And stealing. But that’s okay. Because we’re doing it for the right reasons and… and we’re all still good people. Yeah?”

“Right,” Evie confirms. 

“Okay.” Mal squares her shoulders and walks up to the door, opens it without knocking. Apparently, they don’t use locks in Toontown. She looks over at her shoulder at Carlos, Jay and Evie. “Are you coming?”

* * *

 

The inside of Mickey Mouse’s house is cutesy and colorful. Mal can see a cushy red armchair and oversize umbrella stand in the living room, and from the foyer she can see the kitchen, retro and pink and covered in bows. A wheel of cheese with a chunk missing sits on the counter. 

“Shh,” Mal says, leading the other three through the front door and across the living room, stepping carefully and quietly. Carlos almost knocks over the umbrella stand but fortunately Jay grabs him in time. Evie looks interested in the big white gloves sitting on the coffee table, but Mal ushers her along into the next room.

There’s a huge glass-paneled cabinet there, lopsided and fun-looking, filled with trophies and mementos. Mal spots Steamboat Willie’s steering wheel, a glinting harmonica case, a golden harp, and a set of horse reins. She spies a conductor’s baton, a framed photo of Mickey in front of the House of Mouse, and a pair of felt mouse ears embroidered with the name  _ Annette _ . 

“I don’t see the hat,” Evie whispers. 

Mal tries to peer up to the very top shelf, but it’s too high for her to make anything out. “Here, give me a boost,” she says, trying to clamber onto Evie’s shoulders. 

Evie grumbles but hunches down, trying to give Mal a leg up. They struggle, with Mal trying to hook a leg around Evie’s stomach and accidentally kicking her. “Hey! Watch it.”

“Lift with your knees, Grimhilde.”

“Be quiet.” 

“Evie--”

But Evie lets out a startled shriek when she loses her balance and sends both herself and Mal tumbling to the floor. Mal bangs her knee on the cabinet and swears. Carlos and Jay run in to check on them and Mal pushes herself up on her hands, face twisted into a sour expression. “Jay, you’re tall, do you see…” But he’s gone too pale and his eyes are fixed on something behind her. Evie and Mal, standing now, slowly rotate around to see what’s got Jay so spooked.

Standing there at the end of the hall is a huge cartoonish rodent with big eyes, large gloved hands and round ears. His skinny tail trails down and loops around the corner of the doorway. Evie shrieks again. 

“Hey there,” Mickey Mouse says, sounding not at all startled to find four teenagers sneaking through his home. His voice is still characteristically high, just a little worn down with age, like an old vinyl record. “Everything okay?”

They’re all stunned into silence until Carlos says, “I… didn’t think he was actually a mouse.” 

Mal whips around to stare at him. “What? Why’d you think he’s called Mickey  _ Mouse _ ? What the hell else were you expecting?”

“I don’t know!” Carlos stammers. “Tiger Lily isn’t an actual tiger! I thought it was just a name.” 

“Nope, I’m really a mouse,” Mickey interrupts them, beaming. “I can show you my birth certificate if you want proof.” 

The four of them stare once again at Mickey Mouse, forcibly reminded of the crisis at hand: they’ve been caught. “We were just leaving,” Evie says smoothly, backing away from Mickey. 

“Without this?” He holds up Yen Sid’s hat, a royal blue pointed cap covered in silver stars. “Don’t tell me you came all this way and you’re not going to get what you came for?” He adds a sly smile to the statement that makes Mal feel completely transparent. How does all of Toontown seem to know their business? 

When the kids just stand there frozen, Mickey shakes his head good-naturedly and tosses the hat at Mal, who catches it as a reflex. “Y-you’re just okay with us stealing your hat?” she says.

Mickey chuckles. “How do you think I got it in the first place?” he says. “C’mon, I watch the news. I may be old, but I keep up on current events. I know about Auradon, and I know what you’re trying to do. And all I can say is: good luck.” He nods sagely at them. “Oh, and feel free to grab some cheese on your way out. Minnie and I are never going to finish that thing by ourselves.” He gives them a little wave and then walks away, probably to read a book or watch TV or do something utterly, ridiculously ordinary. 

Jay’s the first to speak up. “Anyone else feel like that was  _ way _ too easy?”

“Yeah,” Evie says. “The hard part starts once we get back to the real world.” 


	5. With All The Strength Of A Raging Fire

Mal’s portal takes them right back to the broom cupboard, and they allow about three minutes of relishing in the feeling of being three-dimensional again before they settle down and get focused. “Alright,” Mal says, perched on an overturned bucket. She holds Mickey’s hat out in front of her. “Here goes nothing.” She puts it on her head, where it falls past her ears and covers her eyes. Mal pushes it up past her hairline and looks around at the other three.

“Do you feel any different?” Carlos asks. 

“Yeah, I feel concerned that Mickey Mouse might have had fleas,” she snarks, scratching in paranoia at an imaginary itch behind her ear.

“Try doing something magic,” Evie suggests. 

Mal stares at a dusty broom leaning against the opposite wall of the closet. “Come to life!” she commands, pointing at it. Nothing happens. Frustrated, Mal grabs a sponge off the floor. “Burst into flames!” Again, nothing. 

Jay groans. “It was all for nothing. Hat doesn’t even work.”

“Wait a minute,” Evie says, holding out a hand to keep them from miserably chattering on. “Do you all know your history? Before the United Kingdom of Auradon, when this was all unincorporated land just called the Kingdom, Mickey Mouse went up against the biggest bad of them all, Chernabog, with  _ that _ hat.”

“Well, the hat has lost its touch,” Mal sighs, tugging it off her head. She really wanted this to work. She really wanted to be able to set Ben free. 

“No, no, hear me out,” Evie says. “Mickey wore it to defend his kingdom. So maybe we’re not supposed to wear it. Maybe we’re supposed to give it to someone to defend  _ his _ kingdom.” 

Mal looks down at the hat in her hands, feeling numb. “The King. The  _ real _ , true king. Ben.” She shakes her head. “But he’s cursed.” Cursed to love her. Cursed to love a monster.  _ I’m a good person _ , she reminds herself. 

“We have to try,” Evie says, squeezing Mal’s hand gently. “This  _ wasn’t _ all for nothing. We have to try.” 

“He’ll be down at the arena,” Jay says. “It’s time for tonight’s Beast fight.” 

“Alright, let’s go,” Mal says, standing up so fast she knocks over the bucket. “Whether or not this works, we’ve gotta do  _ something _ .”

* * *

 

Mal marches out to the field with Carlos, Jay and Evie backing her up. Her bravery dwindles as she gets closer and closer to the place where she can hear the Beast duking it out with some student,  so she relies on her anger to keep her going.

Mal’s never believed all that garbage about love and happiness and “good” emotions being stronger and more reliable than “bad” emotions like rage and hatred. Sometimes the reason you’re so angry is  _ because  _ of how much you love someone. Sometimes there’s no good, no justice, without a few people getting really, really angry. 

As it turns out, the Beast is fighting Chad. And losing. The VKs watch from the shadows as Chad lunges at the Beast, his spear flying far from his mark. The Beast bares his teeth, roaring as he attacks Chad.

In the stands, Maleficent watches and claps, cheering on the Beast. Beside her, Ben sits docile, patient, smiling a little as he watches his father viciously tear into his friend’s leg. Chad screams and then goes still, and even though she hates his guts, Mal’s praying silently for him to be okay.

Maybe the Blue Fairy will hear her. 

As Mal watches in horror, Ben hops up from his seat and marches down to the field. At first she thinks he’s going to check on Chad, but he’s not. Of course he’s not. 

Maleficent’s voice booms out over the arena. “Our next competitor has been itching to fight this freak for weeks! Let’s give a big welcome to Ben of Auradon as he takes on… the Beast!” 

Everyone in the audience claps and cheers and whistles as Ben’s feet hit the field. The Beast huffs and turns, his yellow eyes finding his son. Mal can tell there’s no recognition there; the Beast is just another one of her mother’s playthings, like Ben. 

They advance on each other, Ben and his father, and Ben unsheathes a sword as he walks across the grass to meet the Beast. Mal can’t watch anymore. Against Evie’s frantic whispers to stay put, she runs out from their hiding space beneath the bleachers and onto the center of the field. It’s like she can hear the audience members holding their breath. 

Ben spins to face her, sword falling to his side. “Mal!” he says, face splitting into a grin. “You’re just in time to watch! I’m going to fight the Beast.” 

“No, you’re not,” she says, gripping Yen Sid’s hat too tightly in her hand. “Ben, look at him! You don’t want to fight him, he’s your  _ dad _ .” Maybe not the best argument, given that Mal would gladly take a swing at her own mother. She scrambles to remember the stories she’s heard about Queen Belle and King Adam. “Love, right? Loving and being loved, that’s what made the Beast human again. Look at him, Ben. Don’t you love him?” 

Ben spares a vacant, glassy look at his father before turning back to Mal. “I love  _ you _ . That’s all I need.” 

“No, it’s not!” she explodes, eyes glowing green as she stomps her foot. Everything’s wrong and Ben looks at her like she’s the sun and the moon and it’s all  _ wrong _ . “You  _ don’t _ love me. Don’t you remember? Come on, Ben,  _ please _ . You’re Auradon’s only hope.” That’s if Evie’s right about the hat. There’s always the chance she’s not, and Mal’s trying not to think about that.

Maleficent speaks up before Ben can say anything. “Darling,” she calls to Mal, eyeing her dangerously from her perch. “You interrupted the show. What are you doing?” 

Mal takes two deep breaths, trying to keep her hands from shaking. She’s fearsome. She’s chaotic. She’s a good person and she can do good, and she can do this. “I’m fixing what you ruined,” she says clearly, sure that her mother can hear her. And she holds up the hat, moving to shove it on Ben’s head. 


	6. When We're Human Again

“ _ You don’t want to do that _ ,” Maleficent hisses, her voice colder than stone. Mal freezes, involuntarily dragged back to earlier years, her mother’s bony hand slapping her away, the firm grip on her shoulder, the always-there threat of pain and torture that even  _ now _ hangs over her. 

There’s not an ounce of daring left in her, but she’s still angry. She’s always got the anger. “Why not?” she demands, still holding the hat up beside Ben, who watches on with mild interest. Behind them, the Beast goes after Carlos, Jay and Evie, who weave around trying to avoid him. Jay grabs a jousting pole and tries to fend him off. Mal flinches, but she needs to focus. This is between her and her mother. 

“What do you think will happen if you somehow manage to  _ magically _ save all of Auradon?” Maleficent says, smirking at her. “You think everything will be fine? You think you’ll get a parade? You think little Benny will even be able to bear  _ looking _ at you?” 

Mal swallows and says nothing. 

“Even if you can beat me, Mal, don’t you know what  _ winning _ looks like? You won’t just get sent back to the Isle, because clearly, that didn’t work the first time. Belle and the Beast, they’ll think of something worse. For you, and for Evie and Jay and little Carlos, too. Maybe you’ll be tortured. Maybe you’ll be killed. You’re a villain! You brainwashed Ben into loving you. That was  _ you _ , remember, not me! I only enhanced the spell that  _ you _ put on him.” 

Mal squeezes her eyes shut, wishing she could pull out another black portal, jump into a hole in the ground and vanish. 

“ _ Look at me when I’m speaking to you, Mal. _ ” Obediently, Mal looks up, tilting her chin upward even as tears gather in her eyes and pour down her cheeks. The hat sits limply in her hand. “You understand now, right? No one loves you for real. And no one ever will. Some people just…  _ need _ magic to make other people care about them. And there’s no shame in that, dear.”

Mal looks down at the hat. Maleficent’s evil and awful, but she’s right. When she frees Ben from the love spell, when they save Auradon, the charade will end and Ben won’t care that she tried to do the right thing. Fairy Godmother won’t be proud of them for journeying to Toontown, and she won’t care that they met the Blue Fairy. She’ll realize that no amount of remedial goodness classes could teach them to be truly good. 

Ben and everyone else will know who she really is: just a snake who managed to slither into a bird’s nest. Just a useless fairy who tried to fix her own mess. 

“Mal!” Evie yells. Mal’s head jerks toward her voice. She forgot, she forgot, she didn’t pay attention to the fight between the Beast and the other VKs. Are they hurt? Have they been killed? She’s terrible, terrible for letting them believe in her, terrible for leading them to their deaths. “Mal,  _ I love you _ .” What? Evie’s broken away from the fray, her blouse and skirt torn, her skin scratched and bleeding in a few places. But she’s staring fiercely at Mal. “You’re my best friend, my  _ family _ , and even if we can’t save Auradon I’ll still love you. Even if we do save Auradon and everyone hates us, I’ll still love you. So will Carlos and Jay.”

“She’s lying,” Maleficent says, sounding bored. Mal looks up at her mother but Evie’s voice pulls her attention back. 

“Look at me,” Evie says, eyes burning. Behind her, Jay shields Carlos from an attack by the Beast. “I love you, Mal. Not the way your mom pretends to love you. Not the way Ben loves you. I love you the way  _ I _ love you, and there’s no magic involved. Carlos loves you and Jay loves you and you didn’t have to put a spell on us.” She looks at the hat. “Whatever decision you make, Carlos and Jay and I love you. Remember what the Blue Fairy said.” 

What had she said? Something about being good,  _ doing _ good. Something about doing and being good even if no one can see it. 

Mal swallows, feeling her mother’s words and Evie’s words pounding in her head. She stares down at the grass for a long moment, tears stinging her eyes. “Mal?” Ben sounds worried and sincere, and she hates knowing that it’s all a lie. 

No more. No more.

“I’m a good person,” she mumbles to herself. “And I can do good. I’ll do everything I can. And everything I should.” Before she can convince herself otherwise, she straightens up and jams the hat on Ben’s head, pulling it down to cover his eyes. Maybe it will work and maybe it won’t, but even if it all goes wrong, she’ll still have her family.

That’s what she tries to remember as she listens to Maleficent screeching across the field, as she listens to the Beast growling as he goes after Evie. 

When she looks at Ben, she  _ sees _ it happening. Little gold sparks dance around the brim of the hat, kind of like the fairy dust they saw in Toontown. Ben pushes the hat up so he can see, and Mal actually lets out a squeaky little gasp when she sees his eyes. 

It’s  _ Ben _ .

“Mal?” he says again, but he doesn’t just sound worried now, he sounds panicked and confused. “Are you okay? What’s going on? What…?” He trails off when he sees the Beast over her shoulder. “Oh my God.”

“My mom took over Auradon and now everything’s messed up,” Mal says clunkily, trying to articulate the hellishness of the past few weeks. “I need your help.” 

“Of course.” Ben smiles at her, his  _ real _ smile, and maybe he doesn’t love her and never will but Mal loves him, loves him foolishly and with her whole heart.

But that’s a problem for later.

Ben takes her hand, the gold sparks starting to fly from his fingertips blending with the purple sparks flying from hers. That link flowing between them, her fae power and the hat on Ben’s head, it feels… well, redundant as that is, magical.

Gold and purple jets of light trace through the air and around the field.  A glowing shield of protection pops up around Jay, Carlos and Evie. One by one, people in the stands start to come back to themselves, looking at Maleficent in horror, yelling and running around trying to figure out what’s happening. 

Jane runs to stand by her mother. Lonnie grabs a jousting spear and jumps onto the field. Maleficent tries to stop them, but her magic is no contest for Ben and Mal’s together. She shrieks and pounds her fists against the stands. 

Mal tears her gaze away from her mother just in time to see strands of golden light wrapping around the Beast’s wrists and ankles. Before her eyes, he begins to transform back into a human. “Ben, that’s amazing, how are you doing that?” she asks, because even she didn’t know where to begin with that kind of transformative magic.

But Ben looks just as confused as her. “I’m not.” 

And then from behind him his mother comes running, tears pouring down her face. “Adam! Adam!” she yells, falling to her knees in front of the Beast as he shifts back into a man. One hulking paw turns back into a hand, and Belle holds it tightly. “I’m here. I’m here and I love you.” 

“Love is its own kind of magic,” Ben muses, watching his parents reunite. 

“Believe me, I know.” Mal looks at him, feeling the guilt crash over her in waves. That, too, she doesn’t have time for right now. “Where’s my mom?”

“Right here, darling,” Maleficent says, appearing behind them, enraged and infuriated. “What? You thought you could ruin all my hard work and I’d run off with my tail between my legs?” She gives Ben a simpering smile. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘What tail?’ Let me show you.” Her eyes glow green, her hands stretch out and become claws, her whole body changes into something monstrous, black and scaly. In seconds, a dragon stands before them on the field, fiery and dark and deadly. 


	7. Once Upon A Dream

Ben doesn’t run. She thought he would run. Instead, he stays, feet planted, hand tight in Mal’s. He stares down Maleficent along with Mal, and suddenly Mal realizes the two of them aren’t alone. 

A hand grabs her free hand from behind. “We’re right here with you, Mal,” Evie says. She and the boys must have stepped out from behind the magical shield after the Beast stopped being a threat. They all stand there clustered behind her, Carlos and Jay and Evie. “Whatever happens, we’re right here with you.”

Maleficent stares at her, and Mal stares back. Carlos and Evie and Jay and Ben all stare back as well. Carlos, who would brave a dragon to keep a dog safe. Evie, whose freedom matters more to her than her fear. Jay, who never knew he needed anyone else until he realized they needed him. And Ben, who trusted all of them before he ever even met them, who surely must have realized they were working for their parents, who stands with them now anyway. 

Five hearts as one. Five hearts stand together. Five hearts win. 

The horrible dragoness shrinks down to almost nothing, and when she leans down, Mal sees that her mother has turned into a tiny, harmless lizard. The lizard hisses. Mal smiles.

“We’re not done here,” Jay says, tugging on Mal’s sleeve. She looks up to see Jafar, the Evil Queen and Cruella De Vil advancing across the field toward them. They may not be able to transform into dragons, but they’re dangerous still, and just as at fault as Mal’s mother. 

Mal joins hands with Evie and Ben once again. Five hearts join as one, and gold and purple light floods the field for a spectacular moment. 

When the dust clears, three creatures join Maleficent the lizard in the grass: a writhing snake, a haughty raven, and a tiny Dalmatian. 

With all the spells broken, all the battles over, Fairy Godmother starts to try and get a handle on things again, starting with collecting the villains off the field. Carlos watches them as they’re all carried away in an enchanted cage. “With any luck, they’ll all eat each other,” he grumbles. 

With the chaos over, Ben takes off Yen Sid’s hat and hands it to Mal, not sparing it (or her) another glance before he runs over to join his mother and father, hugging them tightly as they all start talking over each other. 

Mal watches from a distance, her arms around Evie and Jay. “We love you, Mal,” Jay tells her. “And… thank you.” 

“I’m so proud of you,” Evie says, tilting her head against Mal’s. Carlos comes up and lets Evie hug him into her side. 

“Love you, Mal,” he says. “And if Ben can’t love you without magic… then he doesn’t know what he’s missing.” 

Mal just lets the tears fall, tears of relief, of exhaustion, of joy, of pain. “I love you guys so much,” she says to her family, pulling them in close to her. “We did it. We’re free.”

* * *

Ben finds her hiding in her favorite brooding tower two days later, ripping pages out of her spellbook and letting them flutter away in the wind. “That’s littering, you know,” he says, leaning against the back wall.

“What can I say?” she says dully, tearing out another page and letting it drop. It’s not so much that the book is a symbol of magic, or even of the Isle. It’s a symbol of her mother, and it feels good to rip it apart. “I’m evil.” 

“You saved me. You saved my parents,” Ben says, coming to stand beside her at the window. He looks like he wants to hug her but he’s restraining himself. “You saved Auradon.” 

“Carlos and Jay and Evie, they all helped,” Mal reminds him. 

“But they’re not here right now,” Ben says. “Mal, listen--”

“I’m so sorry,” she interrupts suddenly, flooded with guilt and love and every other unsavory feeling under the sun. “Ben, I’m so sorry. I mean, I should never have put a love spell on you in the first place, I was… confused and just doing what I thought I was supposed to, and I know that’s a bad excuse but I just… I didn’t want my mother’s plan…  _ my  _ plan… to work, in the end I really didn’t want it to work. When I gave you the anti-love potion before the coronation, it was because I didn’t want the plan to work and then you be stuck in love with me because that’s just  _ awful _ and then I found out about the lake and I was kind of relieved and kind of… felt awful, and then Mom cursed you and then everything was just  _ awful _ and I never wanted you to be tied to me like that, I’m so sorry, Ben, I’m so sorry--”

He puts a cookie up to her mouth to keep her from talking. “Here. Mrs. Potts made them; they’re good.” Mal takes a bite. It is good. “And I promise there’s no love potion in there.” 

She laughs awkwardly. “Ben, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he says. “Your mother forced you to. I should have anticipated that the villains would try to use your chance at freedom for their own means.” 

“But it was  _ my _ love spell,” Mal points out. “Maybe my mother is the Big Bad here, but I paved the way. I opened the door, even if I tried to close it.” 

“Mal,” Ben says, reaching like he wants to hold her hands. She jerks back. He bobs his head understandingly and puts his hands at his sides. “That first time. I didn’t realize I was under a love spell until I came up out of the lake. And I thought to myself, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t love Mal.’ And then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, do I?’” He watches her carefully. “I didn’t,” he tells her. “Not then. I thought you were pretty, and interesting, but I didn’t love you. And then you gave me the antidote and I realized, without a doubt, that you were  _ good _ . Don’t get me wrong, I liked you, but I was worried. Love spells aren’t exactly ethical.”

“I know.”

“Shh,” Ben says. “But the fact that you were willing to cut me loose made me think everything would be okay. And then your mother showed up… the nail in the coffin of every good relationship.” He chuckles. Mal’s too focused on his words to laugh. “When she put her own spell on me… I remember everything that happened, but it’s like I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t care that my home was in ruins. I didn’t care that people were getting hurt. All I cared about was you.”

Mal looks down at her feet. “I didn’t want you to. I knew it was fake.” 

“It was,” Ben agrees. “But I remember everything you said, Mal. You risked everything for me. And it wasn’t even the big things… every little thing. Every word you said to me, when you promised to save me. And on the field, when you put the sorcerer’s hat on my head and I was  _ real _ again, I thought that same thing again, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t love Mal.’” He looks down at her, and he actually looks scared. “Except that I did. I do. I love you, Mal.” 

Mal’s whole face lights up, but then she quickly crushes down the feeling flapping its wings in her heart. “No, you don’t. It’s the spell.”

“Spell’s gone, Mal,” Ben says. “There’s no magic making me love you. I just… love you. No strings attached. No tricks.”

“Ben…” Mal says, and then suddenly she’s grabbing at his shoulders and he hugs her and she buries her face in his chest. She doesn’t realize she’s crying until she realizes his shirt is wet. All the terror and panic of the past few weeks washes over her and she cries and cries, and Ben holds her tightly like the only solid thing in a hurricane. 

He doesn’t tell her to calm down. He doesn’t tell her everything’s going to be okay. He just holds her and lets her cry, and she loves him, loves him, loves him. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t fight off the spell,” Ben says. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you weren’t good enough to love without being magicked into it, because you are, Mal. You’re amazing. And I’ll spend as long as you want me around trying to prove that to you.”

Mal smiles, teary-eyed and in love. Saving Ben was always the plan. Never in a million years did she think she’d actually get to keep him after she saved him. Mal hugs this boy who loves her as the wind carries away pieces of her mother’s spellbook, and the morning sunlight splinters in through the tower window. It’s not magical or mystical or fantastic; it’s so exceedingly ordinary that her heart swells with it. 

Because when your mother is a dragon and you’re half-fae, sometimes ordinary can feel extraordinary. 


End file.
